I totally agree with you. This one of the many things the tenants did without permission and was unnecessary. The only good that came of it was it hid the imperfections where the floor met the fireplace. I too would have preferred to have the brick painted white. I wish I did that when I was living there.

Ah. I think it’s the black border, specifically. The large gray tiles don’t even bother me that much – in fact, they could look almost elegant – but the black border reminds me of bad bathroom tile and I think that’s what does it. Maybe if the grout on the black tile were dark, and not white? I don’t know.